The present invention finds application particularly in third-generation networks of Wideband Code division Multiple Access (WCDMA) type. However, the techniques may be applicable also in connection with other types of radio networks, such as GSM, CDMA etc.
In radio telecommunications networks a base station or a node B as it is named in WCDMA provides a radio, or air interface to a mobile user terminal, or user equipment. This radio interface is called the Uu interface in WCDMA. The node B is connected to a Radio Network Controller (RNC) which is the network element responsible for control of radio resources in the Universal Mobile Telephony Network (UMTS) Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The Node B and the RNC are connected through the lub interface. The RNC is in turn connected to a Core Network (CN) which may comprise a number of different network nodes, such as MSC/VLR, SGSN etc.
In third-generation radio access networks increased transmission rates has been a primary goal and new protocols and techniques for achieving increased transmission rates has been developed. A High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) protocol has been standardised in WCDMA release 5, and recently it has been complemented by a High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) protocol in WCDMA release 6.
In HSUPA different user equipment is assigned different transmission rates, or Grants, ranging from 0 kbps up to 5.76 Mbps. That is, one user may have a larger Grant than another. To support the transmissions, hardware in Node B is allocated in hardware pools and hardware resources are allocated to a particular user to support the transmission rate required. The larger the transmission rates, the more hardware resources required.
Obviously a user with a higher scheduled grant, that is a higher assigned transmission rate, will also consume larger resources from the limited air interface between the UE (user equipment) and the radio base station (RBS), the Uu interface, and also from the interface between the RBS and the RNC, the lub interface.
These three resources, hardware, air interference in the cell and available link capacity between the RBS and the RNC, are all possible bottlenecks in capacity terms, and it is therefore important to assign the resources to the potential users in an effective manner.